


together (now more than ever)

by pleasantpeach



Category: Ready or Not (2019)
Genre: "first kiss" prompt, AU, Canon Divergent, Daniel Lives, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fix-It, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, and damn it i'm going to give it to them, grace and daniel deserve happiness, mentions of alcohol/alcohol abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:48:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22569646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pleasantpeach/pseuds/pleasantpeach
Summary: There were times he thought the darkness would never leave. Nights where he wanted to drink until he didn’t know his own name. Days where he wanted to yell at every happy person he saw on the street, jealous of their smiles and their laughter. He would have let those days consume him, if it wasn’t for her. She was there to pull him out, to help him clean up the empty bottles and force him to shower. As stupid and cheesy as it sounds, she was his saving Grace, and he was hers."first kiss" prompt requested by kickassfu on tumblr
Relationships: Daniel Le Domas & Grace Le Domas, Daniel Le Domas/Grace Le Domas
Comments: 7
Kudos: 162





	together (now more than ever)

**Author's Note:**

> so this is my first time posting on ao3, and my first time writing any type of fic in about 4 years. but then i watched ready or not and fell down a rabbit hole. i can't remember feeling this strongly about about a ship ever. so here we are. please let me know what you think so i can feel good about writing more (though i probably will anyway)

There were times he thought the darkness would never leave. Nights where he wanted to drink until he didn’t know his own name. Days where he wanted to yell at every happy person he saw on the street, jealous of their smiles. He would have let those days consume him, if it wasn’t for her. She was there to pull him out, to help him clean up the empty bottles and force him to shower. As stupid and cheesy as it sounds, she was his saving Grace, and he was hers. 

* * *

Daniel didn’t know what he was doing with his life. He’s not sure if he ever did. He married Charity because she needed a way out. He liked her, at first, but he never loved her. He never wanted to get married, never wanted to bring someone into his shitshow of a family. But Charity knew the risks, and she wanted the money. Who was he to stop her? When Alex introduced him to Grace, it was like the clouds had parted. One thing in this shitty, shitty world that actually made life good. When Alex told him they were getting married, he was torn. On one hand, he wanted his brother to be happy, on the other, Grace was better than any Le Domas could be. And what if she pulled  _ that  _ card? Daniel pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and used alcohol to keep them at bay. He smiled that not-to-real smile he was so practiced at and said congratulations. Whatever happened, happened. But then he got to know her. She kept up with his sarcastic, self-deprecating humor well, snapping back with an equally sharp wit. She would smile and she would laugh and he felt  _ alive  _ for the first time since he doesn’t know when. 

When he found her in the study, he was torn. Family or Grace. Everyone in his family were pieces of shit, except for Alex, but they were his family. Could he condemn them just to save her? 

“I’ll give you a ten second head start.”

Maybe. 

She climbed out of that car wreck, looking like absolute hell but somehow so goddamn beautiful. 

“Daniel,” She breathed his name. 

Yes. 

He was ready to watch it all burn. 

He pulled her off that table and took her hand. It fit in his like it was meant to be there. He would have followed her anywhere, done anything for her. 

“Daniel, Daniel, Daniel.”

“Go.”

He was ready to die for her. 

But he’s so glad he didn’t

* * *

Their house was small. It wasn’t cheap, but it was nothing like the mansions and summer homes he’d grown up with, and he was glad. They had tried to stay in one of the numerous Le Domas estates, but they were just as big if not bigger than the home that they had burned. They made Grace jumpy. She would look around every corner before walking down the hall. In any room she was in, she’d have to be in a spot where she could see every door. One night, Grace punched Daniel in the face when he walked into a room too quickly. They left the next day. They’ve had no such incidents in the new house. 

It was two bedrooms, but the second bedroom had long been abandoned. They had an unspoken realization that it was better, more convenient, to share a bed. Before, each night one of them would run to the other, woken up by their own or the others nightmares. Now, they still have nightmares, but the other person is already there to comfort them. It was a good arrangement, a comfortable one. Neither Grace nor Daniel acknowledged how they woke up tangled in each other each morning, hanging on to each other as if they were keeping them from floating away. Daniel wasn’t complaining. The arrangement had begun only a few months after the wedding night. He didn’t want to push her. He would go as slow as he needed. Be there for her when she needed him, just as she was there for him. For now, he would ignore the way his skin lit on fire every time she touched him. For Grace, he would do anything. 

Six months after the wedding, Daniel awoke to music. It traveled easily in the small house, as did the smells. Both traveled down the hall and into their room, waking him with the delicious aroma of bacon and the synth beats of an 80s classic. He pulled on a shirt as he walked out, following the sounds of sizzling and Dexys Midnight Runners calling for Eileen. He paused in the kitchen entrance to take in the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. 

Grace was at the stove, a pan of bacon sizzling before her and a waffle iron heating up on the counter. She was barefoot, wearing nothing but a pair of pajama shorts and one of his shirts. Her curly blonde hair bounced as she did, swaying her body to the music. She sang along, though it was generous to call it singing. More like a rhythmic shouting. Still, Daniel wouldn’t give it up for anything. On the dining room table were two champagne flutes filled with orange juice (“Virgin Mimosas. Just ‘cause we’re sober doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun,” Grace had said). 

Grace twisted her body around, hips swiveling in time with the music. Her eyes met his but she didn’t miss a beat. She just smiled that smile that made his heart skip and started dancing towards him. Holding out her hand that was not carrying tongs, she nodded at him to take it. Of course he took it. She pulled him towards her, forcing him to move his body in time with the music. He gave her no resistance. He showed off his idiotic, clumsy dance moves that made her laugh until she collapsed on the floor. Daniel pulled her to her feet and close to him as “Come on Eileen” faded into “Running Up That Hill.”

She dropped the tongs on the counter, quickly turning off the stove before wrapping her arms around his neck. He put his hand on her waist and pulled her closer, till their foreheads were touching. They swayed slowly, eyes closed, taking one another in. Daniel opened his eyes, pulling back to look at her,  _ really  _ look at her. Her blue eyes met his dark ones. 

“You are beautiful,” He couldn’t help but whisper. A small smile formed on her lips.

“You’re just saying that so I keep making you waffles in the morning.”

“That’s not true. You also make bacon.” 

She presses her forehead against his as she giggles. Their lips are centimeters apart. The line that he’d drawn the moment he met her was in sight. Grace was on the other side. He’d been getting closer every day he spent with her. All she needed to cross that damn line.

Good thing she could read his mind so easily. 

Grace closed the distance between them, their lips touching so lightly he almost thought it was a dream. His arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer, forcing Grace onto her toes until she pulled his head down to meet her height. He felt her fingers playing with the hair at the base of his neck. Their lips moved together, making up for every moment before this they had wasted not kissing. Maybe he had died, he wouldn’t be surprised if this was heaven for him. Though he’s pretty sure if he had died, heaven would not have been the place for him. When they break apart, their breath is ragged. 

"Well if that’s the payment, I’ll gladly make bacon and waffles every morning,” Grace says.

Daniel pokes her side as she giggles, giving him a kiss on the nose. Her hand travels down his side until it meets his own. 

“C’mon, bacon is getting cold.”

She pours batter into the waffle maker and divides up the bacon between two plates. When she joins him at the table, he holds up his virgin mimosa to her. 

“To bacon and waffles every morning,” He toasts.

“To the future,” She retorts. Their glasses clink together and they smile at each other over the rims as they sip. 

6 months ago, Daniel thought his future was at the bottom of a bottle. Now, he can see it in Grace’s eyes, and the future was bright. 


End file.
